


A Day in the Life

by BeautifulAnthem



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur Pendragon Needs a Hug, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humor, One Shot, domestic friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25808041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautifulAnthem/pseuds/BeautifulAnthem
Summary: A Day in the Life of Merlin and Arthur after the latter's return to the land of the living(Cross-posted on FF.net and Wattpad under the same username)
Relationships: Gwen/Arthur Pendragon (minor)
Kudos: 17





	A Day in the Life

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my very first official fic, (that I wrote in like... 45 minutes without editting, whoops.) Let me know what you think! I hope you like it. Lemme know if you find any mistakes and I'll try to fix them. Be as nitpicky about it as you want!  
> Enjoy~  
> -Revel

"Merlin!" Arthur shouted across their small home. Merlin groaned, turning to try and bury himself deeper in the nice, warm covers of his bed. He had only gotten a few hours of sleep, spending nearly all of last night explaining to Arthur what Pringles were. "Merlin, I'm serious! Get out here."

"I swear to God," the warlock groaned, pulling himself from his bed. "I'm going to murder you if this is about the toaster again."

"It is not." Arthur replied from the kitchen. The source of his words were not comforting to Merlin. "Besides, you wouldn't kill me anyway. Not when you just got me back." As Merlin turned the corner into the kitchen, he could see that the blonde hand his hands on his hips and a smug grin on his face.

"I think I preferred when you were dead." He deadpanned, dragging a hand through his sleep-rumpled hair. "What do you need?"

"No you didn't, you missed me." Arthur's singsong voice carried through the house, grating on the raven-haired man's nerves. "I think I may have burned this."

Merlin glanced over to the pot that the King had gestured to. Inside was tomato soup, that was indeed, very, very burnt. "Well, that's what you get for trying to cook without me."

"Hey! I was trying."

"Are you pouting?"

"King's don't pout."

"You're not King anymore." Merlin pointed out, a smirk crossing his face as Arthur's pout deepened.

"According to you, I am the Once and _Future_ King, so yes, I am."

"You'll be King again once we get your kingdom back, so," Merlin walked over to the stove, gingerly picking up the pot and carrying it over to the sink to soak. "Until then, you're a normal person."

"I'm practically a peasant." The blonde groaned.

"Indeed!" Merlin grinned brightly. "Which means you have to actually learn how to do normal things."

"Why can't you just do it?" Arthur whined pathetically, plopping down in a kitchen chair with little grace. "I already tried and failed."

"I'm not your manservant anymore, Sire." mocked Merlin.

Arthur scowled, "you wouldn't even have to do anything, just wave your hand and do your," he gestured wildly with his hands, "thing."

"My thing?"

"Your... magic thing." Arthur bit out.

Merlin frowned. He had wished that his King would be more comfortable with his magic. 'But,' Merlin thought to himself, ' _he's hardly had any time to truly get used to it, as well as adjust to a entirely new world._ ' Merlin sighed to himself, knowing that he just had to give Arthur time. "Well, magic isn't really a thing around here, so I can't constantly do it. Which means, you need to learn to fend for yourself every once in a while." Merlin smirked at Arthur's downtrodden face. "It won't kill you, ya know."

"Ugh, death." Arthur groaned, leaning forward to lay his head on the cool wood of the kitchen table. "I'm tired of death."

Merlin swallowed thickly, a lump forming in his throat. He took a deep breath before asking the question that had been on his mind for more than a millennia. "What was it like?"

"What was what like?" Arthur asked, his voice muffled by the table.

"Being... dead." Merlin winced. He definitely could've phrased that better.

Arthur was silent for a few long moments before he finally spoke up, "death is the best way to put it, but I don't know if I really was. I was... aware ,but not completely. It was more like being asleep, but deeper." Arthur lifted his head a bit, so Merlin could see the contemplative expression on his King's face. "It was cold. And dark. And both quiet and loud at the same time. I felt like I was drowning,-" Merlin huffed a bit at that. He was buried in the waters of Avalon, after all. "-but also like I had too much air in my lungs... and it felt like I was floating."

Merlin hummed in acknowledgement, not entirely sure what to do with that information. He didn't know why he had asked anyway. Morbid curiosity, he supposed.

"I could hear you, too." Arthur continued, drawing Merlin from his mind.

"You, what?"

"I could hear you, when you talked to me at Avalon. I heard everything."

"Oh." The warlock breathed in shakily, trying to keep his emotions in check. His eyes stung a bit at that. He thought that he felt relief. Relief that all his speeches and cries hadn't gone unheard. That they hadn't been in vain.

"You helped me come back. I could've been there forever if I didn't-" Arthur visibly swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing, "if I didn't know you were waiting."

Merlin let out a soft, watery laugh, "well. I always had a hard time waking you up, but it did eventually happen."

Arthur chuckled at that, before sobering again. "It... it didn't help that I could hear Gwen and Leon, and... everyone else. You'd think that hearing them would give me more reason to come back, but when they stopped coming... it just pushed me deeper." He breathed shakily, before clearing his throat. "Ugh, I'm becoming a girl."

Merlin ignored Arthur's attempt at levity. "We'll find them." Arthur turned sharply toward him. He was blinking quickly, trying to hide the tears that Merlin knew he would deny were there. "Gwen and the others. I have to believe that they can come back, too."

The King sighed heavily, focusing his gaze on his hands, as he twirled his wedding ring around and around on his finger. "They don't have destiny on their side."

"No," Merlin admitted. "But we do. They can be reincarnated. Stranger things have happened." He smiled, a hint of bitterness in the expression. "We'll get them back. We have to." Merlin was trying to convince himself just as much as he was trying to convince Arthur. It may have been a long shot; but with the sun pouring in through the windows, lighting up Arthur's hair in a way Merlin was so familiar with, and Arthur, sitting there with a regalness that only he could possess, Merlin thought that if anyone could do it, it'd be his _King_.

Arthur turned back toward Merlin. The hope he saw there was hope that Arthur couldn't bear to crush. "Of course we will." The blonde smiled, a genuine smile. "I am, after all, pretty amazing."

Merlin snorted and rolled his eyes, "I wouldn't go that far. You can't even cook some soup."

"The instructions were unclear!"

"Yeah, yeah, big guy." The warlock laughed, turning away from Arthur. "I'll make us some food, just try not to burn down the house while I go change. Maybe I'll take you shopping for some groceries."

"Ugh, shopping."


End file.
